Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Paper Topics | Fall 2014 | Paper 4

Due Saturday, December 6th, 5 p.m., in your conference leader's Eliot Hall mailbox.
Maximum length: 1,500 words

Choose one of the following questions:

  1. In describing Herodotus's intellectual antecedents, the historian Rosalind Thomas writes, "we can see points of contact between the Histories and certain Presocratic natural philosophers of the sixth­century Ionian Enlightenment, and they share a desire to make sense of the world in non­mythical and non­genealogical terms, which we could call 'rational'" (in The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus, 60). Philosophers associated with the Ionian Enlightenment include Heraclitus and the Milesians, Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes; though often not associated with the Ionian school, Xenophanes, too, had his roots in Ionia. Choosing one of these Presocratic philosophers to compare to Herodotus, assess Thomas's claim that the Presocratics and Herodotus shared certain approaches to making sense of the world around them.

  2. At the beginning of Book 7 (7.1­19), Herodotus mentions a number of factors that led to Xerxes' invasion of Greece. What are the factors? Which factors, if any, are given the most weight? Do all the factors add up to a coherent explanation of why Xerxes invaded Greece?

  3. Compare the depiction of the character of Clytemnestra in each of the plays of the Oresteia (the Agamemnon, the Libation Bearers, and Eumenides). Is she a completely consistent character throughout the trilogy, or are there significant differences in the way she is portrayed in different plays? How does your view of Clytemnestra's character affect your interpretation of the major themes of the trilogy as a whole?

  4. Towards the end of the play Antigone, the heroine laments,

    No tears for me, no friends, no marriage. Brokenhearted
    I am led along the road ready before me.
    I shall never again be suffered
    to look on the holy eye of the day.
    But my fate claims no tears—
    no friend cries for me. (ll. 929­34)

    For all her early bravado, Antigone by the play's end seems to be a decrepit and sad spokeswoman for piety. What then does the play ultimately tell us about whether one can (or should) disobey earthly justice in order to pay homage to the divine? Which is more important according to Sophocles, the laws of man or the laws of the gods?

  5. Compare how the palace complex at Persepolis and the Parthenon complex on the Athenian Acropolis represent and constitute political community. You might consider analyzing the use of space, architectural structures and their details, and the imagery in decorative carvings. How do these two architectural complexes help us to understand the differing political ideals of the Achaemenid Persian empire and the Athenian polis?

  6. Speaking about the Hebrew religion, Nancy Jay argues that, "Sacrifice joins people together in community, and, conversely, it separates them from defilement, disease, and other dangers"; "it unites worshippers in one moral community" (Throughout Your Generations 17, 19). Do an analysis of the Parthenon in which you argue for whether the Temple also seems to "unite worshippers in one moral community." If so, what is the basis of that unification? From what must the community be separated? Support your argument with careful attention either to the details of how the building(s) are constructed spatially, the way they are decorated, or the rituals that took place in them.

  7. The chorus in Antigone remarks that,

    Many are the wonders, none
    is more wonderful than what is man.
    This it is that crosses the sea
    with the south winds storming and the waves swelling,
    breaking around him in roaring surf.
    ...
    He has a way against everything,
    and he faces nothing that is to come
    without contrivance.
    Only against death
    can he call on no means of escape;
    but escape from hopeless diseases
    he has found in the depths of his mind
    With some sort of cunning, inventive
    beyond all expectation
    he reaches sometime evil,
    and sometimes good. (Sophocles Antigone ll. 347­67)

    Doing a close reading of at least two of the Parthenon sculptures, argue for whether the temple reinforces or conflicts with this new spirit of optimism about man's power.

  8. Write your own essay topic. If you choose this option, it is necessary to have your conference leader approve your topic before you start working on it.